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List of expressions |
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For an introduction to expressions, check out the overview of custom expressions.
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Functions
Aggregation expressions take into account all values in a field. They can only be used in the Summarize section of the query builder.
Returns the average of the values in the column.
Syntax: Average(column)
Example: Average([Quantity]) would return the mean for the Quantity field.
Returns the count of rows (also known as records) in the selected data.
Syntax: Count
Example: Count If a table or result returns 10 rows, Count will return 10.
Only counts rows where the condition is true.
Syntax: CountIf(condition).
Example: CountIf([Subtotal] > 100) would return the number of rows where the subtotal were greater than 100.
The number of distinct values in this column.
Syntax: Distinct(column).
Distinct([Last Name]). Returns the count of unique last names in the column. Duplicates (of the last name "Smith" for example) are not counted.
Returns the largest value found in the column.
Syntax: Max(column).
Example: Max([Age]) would return the oldest age found across all values in the Age column.
Related: Min, Average, Median.
Returns the median value of the specified column.
Syntax: Median(column).
Example: Median([Age]) would find the midpoint age where half of the ages are older, and half of the ages are younger.
Databases that don't support median: Druid, MariaDB, MongoDB, MySQL, SQLite, Vertica, and SQL Server. Presto only provides approximate results.
Returns the smallest value found in the column.
Syntax: Min(column).
Example: Min([Salary]) would find the lowest salary among all salaries in the Salary column.
Related: Max, Median, Average.
Returns the value of the column at the percentile value.
Syntax: Percentile(column, percentile-value)
Example: Percentile([Score], 0.9) would return the value at the 90th percentile for all values in that column.
Databases that don't support percentile: Druid, H2, MariaDB, MySQL, MongoDB, SQL Server, SQLite, Vertica. Presto only provides approximate results.
Returns the percent of rows in the data that match the condition, as a decimal.
Syntax: Share(condition)
Example: Share([Color] = "Blue") would return the number of rows with the Color field set to Blue, divided by the total number of rows.
Calculates the standard deviation of the column, which is a measure of the variation in a set of values. Low standard deviation indicates values cluster around the mean, whereas a high standard deviation means the values are spread out over a wide range.
Syntax: StandardDeviation(column)
Example: StandardDeviation([Population]) would return the SD for the values in the Population column.
Databases that don't support StandardDeviation: Druid, SQLite.
Adds up all the values of the column.
Syntax: Sum(column)
Example: Sum([Subtotal]) would add up all the values in the Subtotal column.
Sums up the specified column only for rows where the condition is true.
Syntax: SumIf(column, condition).
Example:SumIf([Subtotal], [Order Status] = "Valid") would add up all the subtotals for orders with a status of "Valid".
Returns the numeric variance for a given column.
Syntax: Variance(column)
Example: Variance([Temperature]) will return a measure of the dispersion from the mean temperature for all temps in that column.
Related: StandardDeviation, Average.
Databases that don't support Variance: Druid, SQLite.
Function expressions apply to each individual value. They can be used to alter or filter values in a column, or create new, custom columns.
Logical functions determine if a condition is satisfied or determine what value to return based on a condition.
Returns true if the value of a date or number column falls within a specified range. Otherwise returns false.
Syntax: between(column, start, end)
Example: If you filtered with the expression between([Created At], "2019-01-01", "2020-12-31"), Metabase would return rows that returned true for that expression, in this case where the Created At date fell within the range of January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, including the start (2019-01-01) and end (2020-12-31) dates.
Related: interval.
case (alias if) tests an expression against a list of cases and returns the corresponding value of the first matching case, with an optional default value if nothing else is met.
Syntax: case(condition, output, …)
Example: case([Weight] > 200, "Large", [Weight] > 150, "Medium", "Small") If a Weight is 250, the expression would return "Large". In this case, the default value is "Small", so any Weight 150 or less would return "Small".
Looks at the values in each argument in order and returns the first non-null value for each row.
Syntax: coalesce(value1, value2, …)
Example: coalesce([Comments], [Notes], "No comments"). If both the Comments and Notes columns are null for that row, the expression will return the string "No comments".
if is an alias for case. Tests an expression against a list of conditionals and returns the corresponding value of the first matching case, with an optional default value if nothing else is met.
Syntax: if(condition, output, ...)
Example: if([Weight] > 200, "Large", [Weight] > 150, "Medium", "Small") If a Weight is 250, the expression would return "Large". In this case, the default value is "Small", so any Weight 150 or less would return "Small".
Returns true if the column is null.
Syntax: isnull(column)
Example: isnull([Tax]) would return true if no value were present in the column for that row.
Returns true if the column contains a value.
Syntax: notnull(column)
Example: notnull([Tax]) would return true if there is a value present in the column for that row.
Math functions implement common mathematical operations.
Returns the absolute (positive) value of the specified column.
Syntax: abs(column)
Example: abs([Debt]). If Debt were -100, abs(-100) would return 100.
Rounds a decimal up (ceil as in ceiling).
Syntax: ceil(column).
Example: ceil([Price]). ceil(2.99) would return 3.
Returns Euler's number, e, raised to the power of the supplied number. (Euler sounds like "Oy-ler").
Syntax: exp(column).
Example: exp([Interest Months])
Related: power.
Rounds a decimal number down.
Syntax: floor(column)
Example: floor([Price]). If the Price were 1.99, the expression would return 1.
Returns the base 10 log of the number.
Syntax: log(column).
Example: log([Value]).
Raises a number to the power of the exponent value.
Syntax: power(column, exponent).
Example: power([Length], 2). If the length were 3, the expression would return 9 (3 to the second power is 3*3).
Databases that don't support power: SQLite.
Related: exp.
Rounds a decimal number either up or down to the nearest integer value.
Syntax: round(column).
Example: round([Temperature]). If the temp were 13.5 degrees centigrade, the expression would return 14.
Example: round([Temperature] * 10) / 10. If the temp were 100.75, the expression would return 100.8.
Returns the square root of a value.
Syntax: sqrt(column).
Example: sqrt([Hypotenuse]).
Databases that don't support sqrt: SQLite.
Related: Power.
String functions manipulate or validate string data.
Combine two or more strings together.
Syntax: concat(value1, value2, …)
Example: concat([Last Name], ", ", [First Name]) would produce a string of the format "Last Name, First Name", like "Palazzo, Enrico".
Checks to see if string1 contains string2 within it.
Performs case-sensitive match by default.
You can pass an optional parameter "case-insensitive" to perform a case-insensitive match.
Syntax: contains(string1, string2) for case-sensitive match.
contains(string1, string2, "case-insensitive") for case-insensitive match.
Example: contains([Status], "Class").
If Status were "Classified", the expression would return true. If the Status were "classified", the expression would return false, because the case does not match.
Related: doesNotContain, regexextract.
Checks to see if string1 contains string2 within it.
Performs case-sensitive match by default.
You can pass an optional parameter "case-insensitive" to perform a case-insensitive match.
Syntax: doesNotContain(string1, string2) for case-sensitive match.
doesNotContain(string1, string2, "case-insensitive") for case-insensitive match.
Example: doesNotContain([Status], "Class"). If Status were "Classified", the expression would return false.
Related: contains, regexextract.
Extracts the domain name from a URL or email.
Syntax: domain(urlOrEmail).
Example: domain([Page URL]). If the [Page URL] column had a value of https://www.metabase.com, domain([Page URL]) would return metabase. domain([Email]) would extract metabase from hello@metabase.com.
Returns true if the end of the text matches the comparison text.
Performs case-sensitive match by default.
You can pass an optional parameter "case-insensitive" to perform a case-insensitive match.
Syntax: endsWith(text, comparison) for case-sensitive match.
endsWith(text, comparison, "case-insensitive") for case-insensitive match.
Example: endsWith([Appetite], "hungry")
Related: startsWith, contains, doesNotContain.
Extracts the host, which is the domain and the TLD, from a URL or email.
Syntax: host(urlOrEmail).
Example: host([Page URL]). If the [Page URL] column had a value of https://www.metabase.com, host([Page URL]) would return metabase.com. host([Email]) would extract metabase.com from hello@metabase.com.
Returns true if a string column contains an empty string or is null. Calling this function on a non-string column will cause an error. You can use isnull for non-string columns.
Syntax: isempty(column)
Example: isempty([Feedback]) would return true if Feedback was an empty string ('') or did not contain a value.
Removes leading whitespace from a string of text.
Syntax: ltrim(text)
Example: ltrim([Comment]). If the comment were " I'd prefer not to", ltrim would return "I'd prefer not to".
Returns the number of characters in text.
Syntax: length(text)
Example: length([Comment]). If the comment were "wizard", length would return 6 ("wizard" has six characters).
Returns the string of text in all lower case.
Syntax: lower(text).
Example: lower([Status]). If the Status were "QUIET", the expression would return "quiet".
Related: upper.
Returns true if a string column contains a value that is not the empty string. Calling this function on a non-string column will cause an error. You can use notnull on non-string columns.
Syntax: notempty(column)
Example: notempty([Feedback]) would return true if Feedback contains a value that isn't the empty string ('').
Related: isempty, isnull, notnull
⚠️ regexextractis unavailable for MongoDB, SQLite, and SQL Server. For Druid,regexextractis only available for the Druid-JDBC driver.
Extracts matching substrings according to a regular expression.
Syntax: regexextract(text, regular_expression).
Example: regexextract([Address], "[0-9]+").
Databases that don't support regexextract: H2, SQL Server, SQLite.
Related: contains, doesNotContain, substring.
Replaces all occurrences of a search text in the input text with the replacement text.
Syntax: replace(text, find, replace).
Example: replace([Title], "Enormous", "Gigantic").
Removes trailing whitespace from a string of text.
Syntax: rtrim(text)
Example: rtrim([Comment]). If the comment were "Fear is the mindkiller. ", the expression would return "Fear is the mindkiller."
Returns true if the beginning of the text matches the comparison text. Performs case-sensitive match by default.
You can pass an optional parameter "case-insensitive" to perform a case-insensitive match.
Syntax: startsWith(text, comparison) for case-sensitive match.
startsWith(text, comparison, "case-insensitive") for case-insensitive match.
Example: startsWith([Course Name], "Computer Science") would return true for course names that began with "Computer Science", like "Computer Science 101: An introduction".
It would return false for "Computer science 201: Data structures" because the case of "science" does not match the case in the comparison text.
startsWith([Course Name], "Computer Science", "case-insensitive") would return true for both "Computer Science 101: An introduction" and "Computer science 201: Data structures".
Related: endsWith, contains, doesNotContain.
Extracts the subdomain from a URL. Ignores www (returns a blank string).
Syntax: subdomain(url).
Example: subdomain([Page URL]). If the [Page URL] column had a value of https://status.metabase.com, subdomain([Page URL]) would return status.
Returns a portion of the supplied text, specified by a starting position and a length.
Syntax: substring(text, position, length)
Example: substring([Title], 1, 10) returns the first 10 letters of a string (the string index starts at position 1).
Related: regexextract, replace.
Removes leading and trailing whitespace from a string of text.
Syntax: trim(text)
Example: trim([Comment]) will remove any whitespace characters on either side of a comment.
Returns the text in all upper case.
Syntax: upper(text).
Example: upper([Status]). If status were "hyper", upper("hyper") would return "HYPER".
Date functions manipulate, extract, or create date and time values.
Shifts a date or timestamp value into a specified time zone.
Syntax: convertTimezone(column, target, source).
Example: convertTimezone("2022-12-28T12:00:00", "Canada/Pacific", "Canada/Eastern") would return the value 2022-12-28T09:00:00, displayed as December 28, 2022, 9:00 AM.
See the database limitations for convertTimezone.
Adds some unit of time to a date or timestamp value.
Syntax: datetimeAdd(column, amount, unit).
Example: datetimeAdd("2021-03-25", 1, "month") would return the value 2021-04-25, displayed as April 25, 2021.
amount must be an integer, not a fractional number. For example, you cannot add "half a year" (0.5).
Related: between, datetimeSubtract.
Returns the difference between two datetimes in some unit of time. For example, datetimeDiff(d1, d2, "day") will return the number of days between d1 and d2.
Syntax: datetimeDiff(datetime1, datetime2, unit).
Example: datetimeDiff("2022-02-01", "2022-03-01", "month") would return 1.
See the database limitations for datetimediff.
Subtracts some unit of time from a date or timestamp value.
Syntax: datetimeSubtract(column, amount, unit).
Example: datetimeSubtract("2021-03-25", 1, "month") would return the value 2021-02-25, displayed as February 25, 2021.
amount must be an integer, not a fractional number. For example, you cannot subtract "half a year" (0.5).
Related: between, datetimeAdd.
Takes a datetime and returns the day of the month as an integer.
Syntax: day([datetime column]).
Example: day("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return the day as an integer, 25.
Returns the localized name of a day of the week, given the day's number (1-7). Respects the first day of the week setting.
Syntax: dayName(dayNumber).
Example: dayName(1) would return Sunday, unless you change the first day of the week setting.
Related: quarterName, monthName.
Takes a datetime and returns the hour as an integer (0-23).
Syntax: hour([datetime column]).
Example: hour("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return 12.
Checks a date column's values to see if they're within the relative range.
Syntax: interval(column, number, text).
Example: interval([Created At], -1, "month").
The number must be an integer. You cannot use a fractional value.
Related: between.
Takes a datetime and returns the minute as an integer (0-59).
Syntax: minute([datetime column]).
Example: minute("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return 52.
Takes a datetime and returns the month number (1-12) as an integer.
Syntax: month([datetime column]).
Example: month("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return the month as an integer, 3.
Returns the localized short name for the given month.
Syntax: monthName([Birthday Month])
Example: monthName(10) would return Oct for October.
Related: dayName, quarterName.
Returns the current date and time using your Metabase report timezone.
Syntax: now.
Takes a datetime and returns the number of the quarter in a year (1-4) as an integer.
Syntax: quarter([datetime column]).
Example: quarter("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return 1 for the first quarter.
Given the quarter number (1-4), returns a string like Q1.
Syntax: quarterName([Fiscal Quarter]).
Example: quarterName(3) would return Q3.
Gets a timestamp relative to the current time.
Syntax: relativeDateTime(number, text)
number: Period of interval, where negative values are back in time. The number must be an integer. You cannot use a fractional value.
text: Type of interval like "day", "month", "year"
relativeDateTime can only be used as part of a conditional expression.
Example: [Orders → Created At] < relativeDateTime(-30, "day") will filter for orders created over 30 days ago from current date.
Related: datetimeAdd, datetimeSubtract.
Takes a datetime and returns the number of seconds in the minute (0-59) as an integer.
Syntax: second([datetime column]).
Example: second("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return the integer 37.
Gets a time interval of specified length.
Syntax: timeSpan(number, text).
number: Period of interval, where negative values are back in time. The number must be an integer. You cannot use a fractional value.
text: Type of interval like "day", "month", "year"
Example: [Orders → Created At] + timeSpan(7, "day") will return the date 7 days after the Created At date.
Takes a datetime and returns the week as an integer.
Syntax: week(column, mode).
Example: week("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return the week as an integer, 12.
- column: the name of the column of the date or datetime value.
- mode: Optional.
- ISO: (default) Week 1 starts on the Monday before the first Thursday of January.
- US: Week 1 starts on Jan 1. All other weeks start on Sunday.
- Instance: Week 1 starts on Jan 1. All other weeks start on the day defined in your Metabase localization settings.
Takes a datetime and returns an integer (1-7) with the number of the day of the week.
Syntax: weekday(column)
- column: The datetime column.
Example:
case(
weekday([Created At]) = 1, "Sunday",
weekday([Created At]) = 2, "Monday",
weekday([Created At]) = 3, "Tuesday",
weekday([Created At]) = 4, "Wednesday",
weekday([Created At]) = 5, "Thursday",
weekday([Created At]) = 6, "Friday",
weekday([Created At]) = 7, "Saturday")
Takes a datetime and returns the year as an integer.
Syntax: year([datetime column]).
Example: year("2021-03-25T12:52:37") would return the year 2021 as an integer, 2,021.
Window functions can only be used in the Summarize section. They cannot be used to create a custom column or a custom filter.
For more info, check out our page on cumulative functions.
The additive total of rows across a breakout.
Syntax: CumulativeCount.
Example: CumulativeCount.
For more info, check out our page on cumulative functions.
The rolling sum of a column across a breakout.
Syntax: CumulativeSum(column).
Example: CumulativeSum([Subtotal]).
⚠️ TheOffsetfunction is currently unavailable for MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, and Druid.
For more info, check out our page on Offset.
Returns the value of an expression in a different row. Offset can only be used in the query builder's Summarize step (you cannot use Offset to create a custom column).
Syntax: Offset(expression, rowOffset)
The expression is the value to get from a different row.
The rowOffset is the number relative to the current row. For example, -1 for the previous row, or 1 for the next row.
Example: Offset(Sum([Total]), -1) would get the Sum([Total]) value from the previous row.
- Aggregation expressions can only be used in the Summarize section of the query builder.
Limitations are noted for each aggregation and function above, and here there are in summary:
H2 (including Metabase Sample Database): Median, Percentile, convertTimezone and regexextract.
Athena: convertTimezone.
Databricks: convertTimezone.
Druid: Median, Percentile, StandardDeviation, power, log, exp, sqrt, Offset. Function regexextract is only available for the Druid-JDBC driver.
MongoDB: Median, Percentile, power, log, exp, sqrt, Offset, regexextract
MariaDB: Median, Percentile, Offset.
MySQL: Median, Percentile, Offset.
Presto: convertTimezone. Only provides approximate results for Median and Percentile.
Redshift: Average will return integer results for integer columns.
SparkSQL: convertTimezone.
SQL Server: Median, Percentile and regexextract.
SQLite: exp, log, Median, Percentile, power, regexextract, StandardDeviation, sqrt and Variance.
Vertica: Median and Percentile.
If you're using or maintaining a third-party database driver, please refer to the wiki to see how your driver might be impacted.
Check out our tutorial on custom expressions in the query builder to learn more.